Regardless of your playing style or skill level, there is a kit here that will suit all your needs. Keep in mind the features that are important to you while you're taking a look around this section and you'll be working out your fills and rolls in no time. For example, if you're looking for your very first drum kit, an option like the Sound Percussion 5-Piece Drum Shell Pack might be just what you need. This kit is full of deep, powerful tone that is sure to get crowds grooving. With memory lock hardware, it's easy to set up and take down, allowing you to get from the jam space to the gig with no issues. Versatile and durable, this is the perfect kit for beginners, as well as established players looking for a second option.

While the electric guitar is mostly played with a pick, the bass or jazz bass can be played with either a pick or your fingers. Because of the sensitivity of the pickup on the bass, the two tend to produce somewhat different tones. For example, finger style play can create additional sound from the impact of the strings against the frets, while playing with a pick offers a sharper, more staccato sound. Neither style is better than the other, and there are many famous examples of players using each one. Sometimes, there are conventions of play for a particular genre, but more often it comes down to how a bassist originally learned to play.
The 88-key Yamaha YPG-535 Portable Grand Piano Keyboard offers you great-feeling graded soft-touch action atop a sturdy, good-looking built-in stand. Its Performance Assistance Technology ensures the Yamaha YPG-535 delivers error-free performances. And the digital piano’s music database provides complete keyboard setups organized by song title. Learn More
The bass guitar is an electric instrument that performs in both lead and backing roles. They are commonly used across a huge variety of musical genres and are attractive for their versatility, sound, and design. Manufacturers such as Fender and Ibanez offer a variety of both modern and vintage bass guitars, and each has multiple models with their own characteristics.
In 1918 Baby Dodds (Warren "Baby" Dodds, circa 1898–1959), playing on riverboats with Louis Armstrong on the Mississippi, was modifying the military marching set-up and experimenting with playing the drum rims instead of woodblocks, hitting cymbals with sticks (1919), which was not yet common, and adding a side cymbal above the bass drum, what became known as the ride cymbal. Drum maker William Ludwig developed the "sock" or early low-mounted high-hat after observing Dodd's drumming. Ludwig noticed that Dodd tapped his left foot all the time. Dodds had Ludwig raise the newly produced low hats 9 inches higher to make it easier to play, thus creating the modern hi-hat cymbal.[12] Dodds was one of the first drummers to also play the broken-triplet beat that became the standard pulse and roll of modern ride cymbal playing. Dodds also popularized the use of Chinese cymbals.[13]
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The electric bass guitar has occasionally been used in contemporary classical music (art music) since the late 1960s. Contemporary composers often obtained unusual sounds or instrumental timbres through the use of non-traditional (or unconventional) instruments or playing techniques. As such, bass guitarists playing contemporary classical music may be instructed to pluck or strum the instrument in unusual ways.
These keyboards are perfect for any student, child to elder, who is interested in learning how to play piano. They are inexpensive, have built-in speakers so an extra amplifier isn’t necessary, and include multiple piano sounds and simulated acoustic-piano action (aka “key feel”). These keyboards are relatively light—all our picks weigh around 26 pounds—so it’s possible for one person to carry the piano when necessary.

In piano lingo, “action” describes the way the piano keys feel when you press on them. With a digital piano, the closer the action is to that of an acoustic piano, the better. Semi-weighted action uses a spring to create the resistance felt when pressing a key and its rebound when you lift your finger. Hammer action uses a hammer mechanism like that found in an acoustic piano to replicate the feel. Graded, or progressive, hammer action takes that a step further by increasing the weight of the action as you descend to the lower notes on the keyboard. Using a keyboard with weighted action is beneficial for multiple reasons. It helps build finger strength while practicing (a spring-based action will only minimally address this), and it allows for more variation and musicality in the way you play a note. While a piano keyboard might look like nothing more than a bunch of on/off switches, in reality there’s a range of volumes and timbres that can be achieved depending on how quickly or strongly you depress the keys. Hammer action best replicates those possibilities.

Electronic drums are used for many reasons. Some drummers use electronic drums for playing in small venues such as coffeehouses or church services, where a very low volume for the band is desired. Since fully electronic drums do not create any acoustic sound (apart from the quiet sound of the stick hitting the sensor pads), all of the drum sounds come from a keyboard amplifier or PA system; as such, the volume of electronic drums can be much lower than an acoustic kit. Some drummers use electronic drums as practice instruments, because they can be listened to with headphones, enabling a drummer to practice in an apartment or in the middle of the night without disturbing others. Some drummers use electronic drums to take advantage of the huge range of sounds that modern drum modules can produce, which range from sampled sounds of real drums, cymbals and percussion instruments (including instruments that would be impractical to take to a small gig, such as gongs or tubular bells), to electronic and synthesized sounds, including non-instrument sounds such as ocean waves.

Many students that are interested in learning to play the piano don’t start by playing a large grand piano. Because of the high cost and amount of space required, most people who are just starting to learn the piano will buy a digital piano or a keyboard. It’s not uncommon for people to erroneously use the terms “digital piano” and “keyboard” interchangeably. What these people don’t know is that there are many significant differences between digital or electronic pianos and keyboards. In this article, we’ll go into some of the differences as well as what they mean for the music that each instrument is able to produce.

The late Bernard Edwards, bass player with the Disco group Chic, was known to use a technique called chucking to pluck the bass strings with the forefinger of his right hand, in a manner similar to how strings are plucked with a plectrum.[58][not in citation given] Chucking uses the soft part of the forefinger and the nail of the forefinger to alternately strike the string in an up-down manner. The thumb supports the forefinger at the first joint, as though using an invisible plectrum. With a flexible wrist action, chucking facilitates rapid rhythmic sequences of notes played on different strings, particular notes that are an octave apart. Chucking is distinguished from plucking in that the attack is softer with a sound closer to that produced by the use of fingers. Chucking allows a mix of plucking and finger techniques on a given song, without having to take up or put down a plectrum. Examples of Edwards’ use of chucking on his Music Man Stingray bass can be heard on the intro and solo section of "Everybody Dance" and the foundation bass line of "Dance Dance Dance".

In the early 1940s, many jazz musicians, especially African American jazz musicians, started to stray from the popular big band dance music of the 1930s. Their experimentation and quest for deeper expression and freedom on the instrument led to the birth of a new style of music based from Harlem called bebop music. Whereas swing was a popular music designed for dancing, bebop was a "musician's music" designed for listening. During the bebop era, given that bands no longer had to accompany dancers, bandleaders could speed up the tempo. Bebop was also much more based on improvisation, in comparison to the heavily arranged big band scores. Bebop musicians would take an old standard and re-write the melody, add more complex chord changes, resulting in a new composition.